I could hear Ham coming back out from behind the bar.
“How long has Jackie known you?” I said. “Fifty years? A half a century of being your best friend?”
This is what the whole summer had come down to. This summer of secrets. The biggest secret of all was what a bag full of money could make a man do.
“It’s all on you, Bennett. Everything we had to go through. Vargas dead, your son’s friend dead. Jackie almost dead. It’s all on you.”
Ham was right behind me. Bennett was standing up. They were both a hell of a lot bigger than I was.
I didn’t care.
It’s like I told the dog. If I know I’m right, I’ll fight anybody.
A few hours later, I stopped in at the Glasgow Inn. It was cold that night. It was cold and the wind was blowing hard enough to drive three-foot waves against the rocks. The sound was familiar to me. It came to me as soon as I turned off the truck and listened.
Summer was over, that’s what the sound said. No matter what the calendar said, the lake was turning the page to fall. For the last ten thousand years, the lake has always had its way.
When I walked in, I saw a nice fire going. It was a welcome sight. I sat down in one of the big, overstuffed chairs and put my feet up. Jackie took one look at me, then brought over an ice bag and a Canadian.
“Now what?” he said.
“My face is having a hell of a week,” I said. I held the ice bag over my left eye.
“You gonna tell me what happened?”
“Sit down.”
He sat in the other chair and put his feet up next to mine.
“First you gotta tell me something,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“You gotta tell me about your father.”
“Come on, Alex.”
“I’m serious. I want to hear it. Start at the beginning.”
“It’s a long story,” he said. He looked into the fire.
“My evening is free,” I said. “Tell me.”
So he did. While the wind blew outside, I sat by the fire and listened to the story of Elias Connery, how he came to Lake Superior when he was twenty years old, how he fell in love with a girl in a bar, and also with the lake itself. He went to war, he had a son, he came back to the lake, and now he was a part of it. And would be forever.
I didn’t want him to finish, because then it would be my turn. I’d have to tell him what had happened over at O’Dell’s place. After fifty years, he was about to lose his best friend. Meaning he’d be stuck with me now. Alex McKnight would be his best friend in the world.
Talk about a big job. I hoped I could handle it.
I sure as hell was gonna try.
